Venezuela: Opposition to deliver signatures to CNE on Friday

By Elvia Gomez

[El Universal 18.12.03] - Spokespersons for the opposition umbrella group Democratic
Coordinator and civil association Súmate announced they concluded the
verification of the signatures -with an error margin of 3.7 percent-, which
means that 135,001 signatures less than the figure announced two weeks ago were
gathered

The opposition political parties under the Democratic Coordinator, together
with international observers from the Organization of American States (OAS)
and the Carter Center, on Friday are to submit to the National Electoral Council
(CNE) the signatures they collected to demand a recall vote on President Hugo
Chávez' mandate.

A total 500 boxes containing both the original signature collection forms and
their copies are now stored at the headquarters of civil association Súmate.
The signatures will be transported in a convoy from the headquarters of civil
association Súmate to CNE.

They allowed the media to check the place where the signatures have been stored.

Machado ensured that they gathered 3.46 million signatures to demand a presidential
recall vote. She insisted that more than 1 million signatures were collected
above the number of signatures needed to demand a revoking referendum against
President Chávez.

"In such a massive and complex process, it is natural to find some differences.
But (error margins) were inferior to our original estimations," said Machado,
adding that error margin was 3.7 percent. She explained 135,001 signatures less
than the original estimations were collected.

"We have to remind that the figures disclosed by the Democratic Coordinator
were the number of signatures (opposition electoral witnesses) reported from
signature collection centers while the signature collection forms were transported
(to Súmate storage center). Venezuelans already know that some problems
emerged: some materials were destroyed, other were seized, and some were lost.
We are now announcing the exact number of signatures as per the forms that we
have received in this storage center," she said.

Meanwhile, Enrique Mendoza, stated he believes "common sense shall prevail"
among the directors of CNE, and the rules governing the official verification
of the signatures will not be changed. He added that the opposition has requested
both OAS and the Carter Center to be present during the process -from the moment
the vaults where the signatures are stored are opened until the moment the forms
are delivered to CNE. He commended the work conducted by Súmate, and
ensured that "every citizen may be certain that his/her signature is not
lost."

Alejandro Armas indicated: "These signatures are the weapons of freedom;
the weapons of democracy; the weapons to achieve reconciliation and to reconstruct
the country. These are the weapons a peaceful people shall use to solve a crisis.
These signatures represent a tribute to an overwhelming majority of Venezuelans
that -beyond obstacles, problems, and difficulties, imposed their will to pave
this way... No bureaucratic obstacle may obstruct our right to exercise this
right."

Juan Fernández stressed that "the efforts made by the people who
stamped their signatures mean a consolidation of democracy in our country. Even
though many people did not want the signatures to be collected, here we have
the signatures."